Bell companies, not CLECs, are the real beneficiaries of govt. re...

about being held back by govt. regulation since they had benefited greatly from it. Govt. regulations have contributed nearly $29 billion annually to 4 Bell companies, “a substantial portion of total RBOC [Regional Bell Operating Company] revenues,” Selwyn said. Study cited “top 10 corporate welfare” regulations: (1) Switched access rates “in excess of economic costs,” accounting for $9.9 billion annually. (2) “Free nationwide cellular licenses,” $4.7 billion annually. (3) Dedicated access rates “in excess of economic costs,” $3.9 billion. (4) “Monopoly rents” derived from Yellow Pages directory business, $2.8 billion. (5) Ability to terminate ISP-bound calls “at below-cost rates,” $1.8 billion. (6) Ability to offer interLATA vertical features “without compensating IXCs,” $1.7 billion. (7) “Competitor-financed universal service subsidies,” $1.6 billion. (8) “Restrictions on competition for small business customers,” $1.2 billion. (9) Ability to “preferentially market own long distance services,” $1.1 billion. (10) Unregulated provision of billing & collection services, $200 million. Charles Black, co-chmn. of CLEC-based Voices for Choices coalition, said study “unveils a supreme irony about the RBOCs’ massive lobbying campaign to have Congress and the FCC change the rules on high-speed Internet access.” He said that “though the Bells talk about parity,” in reality they're taking advantage of their own subsidies -- www.econtech.com/corporatewelfare.pdf